NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State football team, looking for success on the field Saturday night as the Demons entertain Division II Kentucky Wesleyan, lit up the academic scoreboard this week.
 
NSU's projected NCAA Academic Progress Rate for the 2015-16 academic year is a sparkling 975 (on a 1,000-point scale), Demons' head coach Jay Thomas said Thursday. The national APR average for Division I football is 941.
 
"That's a huge win by our players," he said. "We were thrilled last year with a 969 score, so topping that is fantastic. I've been talking about the quality of young men we have in our program and this definitely illustrates that point."
 
The NCAA's annual APR report is issued each May, with scores compiled by each institution's academic and compliance staffs and submitted in the previous fall.
 
The APR is a review that assesses how institutions are advancing student-athletes toward graduation. Northwestern State's athletic program annually fares well in its APR scores. No NSU sort has ever faced sanctions from subpar APR scores in the first 11 years of the study.
 
One of Thomas' top priorities when he took over the Demons after the 2012 season was to strengthen the team's academic performance. Since the end of the 2014 season, 63 football players have graduated, including 30 since the end of last season. Fifteen are on course to graduate in December.
 
Five current Demons – defensive end JeMarcus Marshall, defensive back Jahvez Barnes, defensive end Okezie Adim-Madumere, quarterback Brooks Haack (from UL Lafayette) and receiver Tuff McClain – already have their undergraduate degrees.
 
The football team posted a cumulative 2015-16 grade point average of 2.85 (on a 4.0 scale) by 115 student-athletes.
 
"It's a result of a lot of work by a bunch of good people, a ton of commitment from the young men, the athletic program, and the university," said Thomas. "You just don't set a goal and see if it happens. Our academic support staff, our faculty, and our assistant coaches all play a part. The players' families are so supportive.
 
"We want these guys to be good football players, and we're heading in the right direction of having a good football team, even if the record right now (0-4) doesn't show it. We're a few plays away from winning each conference game," said Thomas. "It's turning. I'm proud of the people involved because the academic culture of our program is already championship level, and I'm convinced that's a cornerstone for us having the overall program that we all want for NSU."